1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to electrical connectors and, more particularly, to electrical connectors for use with printed circuit boards.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Electrical connectors are often used with printed circuit boards to electrically connect various components to the boards. Such connectors are typically mountable on the top surface of a board and usually include a dielectric housing having one or more contacts supported therein. The contacts include a conductive element engaging portion for engaging a lead of a component, and a tail portion which is connectable to a circuit on the bottom surface (circuit side) of the board, for example, by extending the tail portion through a hole in the board, and then soldering the end of the tail portion to the circuit.
A component to be electrically connected to the printed circuit board is positioned on the circuit side of the board below the connector, and is connected to the connector by extending leads of the component through holes in the board and through openings in the bottom of the connector housing into the connector to be engaged by the conductive element engaging portions of the contact in the connector. Such a connector, in which the leads of the component to be connected are received through the bottom of the connector housing, is commonly referred to as a "bottom entry connector"; and is desirable in many applications.
In order for the connector to function properly, the conductive element engaging portion of each contact must provide a reliable mechanical and electrical connection between a lead of the component and the contact. In addition, the tail portion of each contact must be sufficiently stable to ensure accurate positioning preparatory to soldering to ensure proper connection to the board. Various connector designs have been developed in an effort to satisfy such requirements.
Certain components to be connected, however, have a large number of leads which are very closely spaced. For example, vacuum fluorescent displays are known which range in size from 28 position to 76 position with their leads being on 1.5 mm, 2.0 mm and 0.100 inch centerlines. Current bottom entry printed circuit board connectors are not fully suitable for connecting such components because their designs do not allow their contacts to be placed on such close centerlines.